Warrior Ethos Information
by 1054SS325MP
Summary: This is the information page for Warrior Ethos and squeals. It contains a glossary of military terms and one for Quarian terms, as well as some general information.
1. Chapter 1

**Go to the next chapter! It's new and updated, with lots and lots of quarian info that I've added from throughout my stories.**

**New WE:2 Chapter will be coming out soon. My beta, TITANJC, has it now. Read Morgaur's Massive Gain for more Twin Shep goodness.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a reader's resource for Warrior Ethos. It includes two different glossaries and some general information.**

**This is new and updated, with lots and lots of quarian info that I've added from throughout my stories.**

**New WE:2 Chapter will be coming out soon. My beta, TITANJC, has it now. Read Morgaur's Massive Gain for more Twin Shep goodness.**

**PM or review with any questions, comments, or concerns, and I will provide answers, comments, or more concerns.**

**General Information:**

**Quarians, anatomy and behavior (Canon when available, WE Universe when not):**

**Skin Color:** Assume all quarians are canon in appearance. Given that (a) Tali's photo has a ton of lens flare and the colors are all washed out and (b) the image of the random quarian in mask-less profile (can be seen in the new DLC or on the mass effect wiki page for 'quarian') has all its colors and the skin tone is the same pale blue/violet that everyone assumed Tali had, I too will write as if this were Tali's natural skin tone. Other quarians' skin colors can range from an almost pure white, to jet black, light blue, deep blue, lilac, violet, deep violet, etc. You can assume that quarians have two skin pigments, blue and purple. With none of them, they're bleach-bone white. With all of them, they're as black as the crayon of the same name. In between those two, you get all sorts of shades of pastel blues, purples, and combinations thereof.

**Teeth:** I read somewhere that quarians had double sets of canine teeth, sharper and longer than a human's. They'll have those too.

**Claws:** Calinstel mentioned five centimeter, non-retractable claws on their feet, so they get those. They do not have much of any claws on their hands, only the remnants of evolution from the development of prolonged tool-use.

**Ears:** The ears... The books aren't descriptive enough and neither is any other source. None of the images of unmasked quarians show the ears (or the teeth for that matter) so I'm left to guess. The verdict is in! They get Elf ears. Yup, space-elves. The only difference is that the lower portion of the ear extends all the way to the corner of the jaw. You can see this in the mask-less pic of Tali supplied by bioware. That part is canon.

_**Faysakt**_**:** My own original creation, and my explanation for the lines on quarian skin. See the glossary of quarian terms below.

**Eyes:** They glow! Why? Quarians can see in the dark as well as a cat, although in daylight, not as well as a human. Why can they see so well at night? They're nocturnal, cathermal, or crepuscular. Why? See 'Feeding' below.

**Smell: **Being nocturnal and carnivorous, quarians have a fantastic sense of smell. The use this to find food and suitable mates. After bonding, the scent of their mate is permanently ingrained on the cellular level.

**Build:** Quarians are generally smaller, slighter, and weaker than humans. The exception to this is the quarian females' legs. Don't let one of them kick you. You'll be in a bad way. There are more specific exceptions as well. At 180 cm (5' 11") without her suit, Tali is damn near a giantess by quarian standards. This is supported in game, as Tali's character model is surpassed by only one female in height. That would be the estimable Nyreen Kandros. Don't believe me? Check out some game footage on youtube or go to Tali's tvtropes page.

**Personal space:** Quarians do not like to be touched, except when absolutely necessary. It puts their plight on the flotilla into perspective. It has to do with their evolutionary symbiosis. See 'Bonding' below.

**Feeding:** In the WE universe, quarians are obligate carnivores. That is to say, like a cat, they die if they do not consume meat. Good thing they live in the future where they can engineer plants to carry those amino acids. This is supported by such canonical inferences as their eyes and the Meat-Binges they go on whenever they are welcomed into a port and have money to spend. There are four reasons that I can find for nocturnal habits. Only three of them apply to animals. One of them is water conservation, which makes sense, given that Rannoch seems to be arid. Another is resource competition, which doesn't seem to apply to intelligent predators like sentient beings (humans didn't evolve to hunt at night because wolves hunted in the day, we co-opted them into dogs or killed them). The final one is that predation by purely carnivorous creatures is easier at night. Omnivores and herbivores don't have to waste the energy evolving night vision because some or all of their food will still be in the same place (the ground), day or night. Carnivores have an easier time hunting at night because it is harder for prey to see them (because they didn't evolve night vision to sneak up on plants in the dark). Prey also tends to sleep at night (because that's an easier thing to do, rather than sneaking up on plants in the dark). The water conservation idea makes sense too, but every example I found of a species that does that is _also_ a carnivore.

**Bonding: **Now this is a touchy issue for some reason... People either seem to love the idea or hate the idea. I think all the haters want to see Tali in a three-way for some reason. J/K, but seriously, that's not gonna happen. I don't really have an opinion either way, but I'm playing in Calinstel's universe, and he's the godfather of all things quarian. I'm not gonna rock the boat here. I think I may have explained it somewhere in one of my chapters, that is, the reasons behind why quarians 'bond' but I don't think anyone has done it better than Full-Paragon just did in chapter 34 of Meek. Suffice to say that his reasons were the exact same as what I explained. In a species that has a symbiotic relationship with foreign organic material, not to mention no immune system whatsoever, too much intermixing of genetic material could absolutely _kill them_. A simple touch is bad, but the chances are good that nothing would ever make it past the skin barrier. An exchange of fluids? Now there's a real problem. The quarian symbiosis thing is canon. That means they adapt, and to a small degree, come to _rely_ on that organic material. This led to the evolutional development of bonding, a condition where the two partners adapt to each other on a cellular level to the point of symbiosis. No matter what happens, a quarian cannot un-bond from the person that he or she initially bonded to. Their biological makeup has already been forever altered. They can sometimes re-bond, but most do not, as that pushes the limits of their body's ability to adapt.

Let me be clear. Bonding is not _triggered_ by sex or touch, it is merely helped along by touch. It is _finalized_ by sex, or in purely clinical terms, the exchange of genetic material.

This permanence of the bonding process has led to the quarians' 'fanatical monogamy', as FP puts it, and an extremely strong protective instinct towards their mates. I would call this 'clingyness' in a human, but in a quarian, it's normal. Like humans, quarians are not a single-minded entity. There are varying degrees of this sentiment. Tali, though, having lost her father, mother, friends (read her comic- it's good), and facing death every day, tends toward the more possessive side of the trend. In deference to her human bond-mate though, she's trying not to smother him.

**Gender roles: **Like humans, quarians enjoy total, nominal gender equality. Females tend to be more athletic than males in distance running, jumping, swimming, sprinting, and anything to do with the lower body. Males are stronger in the upper body. Females kick, _extremely hard_, and males can punch harder than females, generally. Both genders are roughly the same height as an average human female, although there is far less deviation from the average. An exception is Tali, see 'Build' above. This equality of ability (and the bonding process) has translated into a far more egalitarian treatment of the sexes. Rape and spousal abuse are unheard of, although in millennia past, particularly fetching males have been 'claimed' by victorious young women of warring clans. If the bonding did not take, they were usually released.

If there could be said to have ever been a dominant gender, it would be the females. Suited for stalking, sprinting, and leaping on prey to slash their insides open, women were the hunters and warriors of primitive quarian society. With their stronger upper bodies, males were suited to lift and carry children, climb trees to gather what little plant material they ate, move rocks in caves and burrows, and build primitive shelters. Hence it is traditional that a quarian man's place is in the home with the children, and the females place is to work and provide. As bronze and iron weapons became prevalent, males were impressed into military service, their builds better suited to wield the heavy weapons. In the millennia or so that quarians have used lightweight firearms and then mass accelerator weapons, the pendulum has begun to swing the other way and traditional roles have seen an ideological resurgence. This would never work on the Fleet, however, so this conservative ideology has become conflated with the desire to retake the homeworld and put down the geth.

Could anyone today imagine a time when a three-fifths majority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest American military decision-makers comprised of seven four-star generals) are women? That is the exact situation of the quarian people around the time of Mass Effect 3. Tali, Xen, and Shala become the preeminent military decision-makers of the Fleet.

Tali, like her mother and father, is a traditionalist.

**Relationships with humans**: Humans an quarians are unique in the galaxy, and similar to each other, in two very important ways. The first is hair. That is, they are the only known sentient mammals. Not other pair of species has demonstrated that level of convergent evolution. As is canon, quarians are the most similar species to humans, and vice versa. Even their blood is generally the same, heme bonded to iron, hence the red color. The other major similarity is sexual dimorphism. It is not only present, unlike with salarians, krogans, hanar, and asari, but it manifests itself in exactly the same way for both races, unlike the turians. The jury is still out on the drell and volus.

Humans arrived much too late on the galactic scene to develop a distaste for the quarian people. Humans generally look upon them favorably, and as they are not a council species, and hence not involved in any way with the First-Contact War, they are more often seen as common-enemy allies to those with radical anti-alien agendas, rather than targets. Indeed, it is suspected that several quarians have been involved with both Cerberus and Terra-Firma, and have even helped from inside the Fleet when operation have necessitated it.

For their part, quarians regard humans and the Alliance as either allies or friendly neighbors. Quarians are encouraged to undertake their pilgrimages in human space, on human ships, on human colonies, or even on the human homeworld, rather than face the scorn and ridicule that comes with venturing onto the Citadel or into to territory of one of the other Citadel races. The admiralty board is more apt to navigate the Fleet towards human worlds when supplies are low, knowing they'll receive excellent prices on supplies and well-stocked dextro provisions in exchange for the influx of cheap, skilled labor that the pilgrims bring.

Asari might be attractive to quarian men, but they do nothing for quarian women. The pheromones simply can't make it past the filters, and the visual cues for quarian females are all wrong. Since the exile and the general dislike of quarians, asari partners are few and far between, anyway. This has been remedied, to some extent with the discovery of the humans. To a quarian, humans are asari with an option for each gender. Often, humans are joking referred to as 'Asari 2.0' or 'Asari For Him and Her' by quarians. Each gender of each species finds the opposite gender of the other species quite attractive. Quarians are less prone to visual cues of sexual fitness than humans, owing to their poorer daytime vision and reliance on scent, but tend to find the builds of humans of both genders to be hyper-sexualized versions of their own. Human men are usually broader chested and more muscular than quarian men. Human women are usually bustier than quarian women. There are exceptions. Quarians of both genders, without suits, have a grace and beauty that no human of either gender can match. The closest description would be an exotic Tolkienesque Elf. An average quarian like Tali is a supermodel by human standards. Indeed, Bioware actually _used an award-winning supermodel_ as her image. And that's without make-up (she didn't have/wouldn't know how to use makeup) and after having been in her suit for years on end. She's a nerd, a mechanic, and a Marine, hardly given to care about things like her appearance. Reegar never even hit on her. Can you imagine what the quarians who care about their appearance must look like?

**Military Aspects:**

The first few chapters may lead the reader to believe that this is a military fic with the focus being entirely on that aspect of the ME universe. This could not be further from the truth. Battles and the like will actually be only a very small part of the whole picture, as the summary would suggest. The only reason it might seem that way is because I stress the realism in everything. So when I write a combat scene, it will be done correctly down to the very last letter. There will only be three, perhaps four, more battles in this _very _long fic.

**Original Characters:**

They will be _extremely _minimal and only used out of absolute necessity. In other words, I assume the _Normandy _must have had an operations section complete with an operations chief. That guy's pretty important, and a necessary character for any realistic fic involving any military. Anyway, ME doesn't name the person, so I decided to.

**The Shepards:**

John Shepard, not Jane, started his military career and conducted his N7 training while in the United North American States Army. From the codex: "[N7] recruits officers from every branch of Earth's militaries," implying that the multiple governments in the Alliance each have their own military, and each of those has its own branches. John only went into the Alliance military shortly before the events in ME1. John is a Soldier, Jane is a Vanguard.

**The Ceremony:**

It's the basis for the first chapter and has been unchanged for the past 200 years in the U.S.A., so it stands to reason that it could easily last another 200 in the U.N.A.S.. If you are curious about the peculiarities of this ceremony, go to Youtube and search for_marine last roll call_if you'd like to see one. Bring some tissues :(

**Acronyms:**

This is about the jargon in the story and how it relates to the alien characters. This story is about realism and it really only does take one a very short amount of time to pick this kind of stuff up in the field. You, dear reader, will pick it up to in short order if you stick with it (although there won't be much more, frankly). I wouldn't think Tali could be ordering parts for engineering all this time and not know what the three letter acronym for a stock number is. And rest assured, there will be plenty of acronyms in future-warfare. There are already quite a few in the codex, which I will gladly use, but there are many more which the ME universe does not supply. So I will gladly supply them! They will be recorded in the military glossary below.

...

**Glossary of Military Terms:**

**ADCON**: Administrative Control. This refers to the unit that actually processes all one's finances and paperwork. As an example, a Marine detachment aboard a ship does not get paid by the Navy. They are administratively controlled by some higher Marine unit back home. The Navy, through the command structure of the ship, does have control of their day-to-day operations, missions, etc.

**ANS**: Alliance Stock Number. This is how the Alliance military orders its parts, supplies, tools, even whole ground vehicles. Everything has a number attached. No possible way in hell that'll change in even a thousand years.

**CO**: Commanding Officer. Shepard is the CO of the marine detachment, and Anderson is initially the CO of the _Normandy_ SR1.

**CMO:** Communications Operator. The future equivalent of RTO, or Radio Telephone Operator. This is the person who carries the communications equipment for a military unit.

**EPW**: Enemy Prisoner of War

**Farseeker:**This is the name of the Migrant Fleet Marine special operations. Roughly equivalent to N7 in terms of capabilities, but trained to operate much further behind enemy lines and with no logistical support. It has a basis in canon; if one recalls Tali's trial, Kal'Reeger mentions that his and other special units receive the best medical supplies and other equipment. You can assume that this name is the direct English translation from Khelish.

**FO:** Forward Observer. These individuals operate well ahead of the main force and remain hidden. They keep an eye out for enemy activity and anything else that might hinder or help the mission. They can also act as snipers, can call in accurate fire from artillery, or can even designate targets for aerial bombardment with laser illuminators.

**Higher**: Catch-All term for echelons of military command that are higher than you.

**LOGPAC**: Logistics Package. Do they still have logistics in the future? Do they still use packages? 'Nuff said. Realism.

**MEDIVAC**: Medical Evacuation (using appropriate _medical_ transport).

**OPCON**: Operational Control. Compare to ADCON above. In this story, Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard had Operational Control of Lieutenant Commander John Shepard and his Marine detachment (once Anderson left and she assumed command of the Normandy).

**OPORD**: Operations Order. This is the 'order' that one follows when conducting complex military operations. Can be written, spoken, or both.

**Platoon Leader:** The officer in charge of a platoon. Almost always a lieutenant. Has the ultimate authority in a platoon.

**Platoon Sergeant:** The non-commissioned officer in charge of a platoon. Second in command to the platoon leader. A good platoon sergeant will use his or her years of experience to guide and mentor the platoon leader.

**Point**: First person into the room, leading person in a patrol, etc. Jane likes this.

**ROE:** Rules of Engagement. These are rules that govern military conduct regarding what level of force should be used and when.

**Stack**: Term used to describe position of military personnel preparing for room entry. Think sideways Pringles can where the Soldiers are the chips.

**WARNO**: Warning Order. This is the warning that the OPORD is coming. It's a very simplified and usually incomplete version of the OPORD.

**XO**: Executive Officer of a given unit. Kaidan is XO for the marine detachment, Jane is initially the XO for the _Normandy_ SR1.

...

**Glossary of Khelish terms (Provided by Calinstel):**

**Biea:** Part of quarian anatomy.

**Birzyt:** Children's game. Literal translation: Noisy plumbing. Though frowned upon publicly, any adult hearing the tapping would smile, having fond memories of their own childhood.

**Bosh'tet:** Animal, native to Rannoch. With no insect life, other species of life had to fill the niches that on earth fell to the insects. One such niche was the dung beetle. A bosh'tet falls into the category of roller on earth as it moves the dung found to a central location. Though differing in colors, from the green/yellow of the cooler climates to the blue/white in the more tropical areas, they are the same species. Known for their apparent inability to distinguish between dung and small rocks, it is considered extremely stupid. Many have been found dead, surrounded by small rocks, as it tried to feed on them.

**Catyn:** Ancient city name, birthplace of Tross'Larik. Present day name: Catyn il quirn, or in human, Catyn on the quirn. A river on Rannoch that flows from the high plains on the continent of Yiistoc, eastward towards the Vynwir ocean.

**Culz'iilm:** Large predatory bird, native to Rannoch. Resembling only creatures found in earthly drawings, this featherless bird is more reptilian with small green or red iridescent scales covering most of its body. A large head, body length of 2 meters and a wing span of 3 to 4 meters, it would cause fear in any animal it came near. Though not a picky eater, it will take any other food available to it before eating a bosh'tet.

**Det kazuat:**Term of curse, considered especially crude. Literal Translation: Living sack of excrement. The Otquer, a large predatory lizard, will pass its meal neatly wrapped in a membranous tissue. Inside the sack, the enzymes used to break down the meat of the prey while still in the lizard continue to act as a stimulant keeping the indigestible brain synapses of its last meal still working until the sun dries the sack out.

**Der'vak:** Literal translation: Lost souls. A Quarian religious construction, where devout practitioners believe souls reside that could not join with the Ancestors, usually for particularly grievous actions committed in life. The closest Human equivalent is hell.

**Dev'alin:** Term used to describe the period of time starting with the initial 'Week of Seclusion' and usually ending with the confirmation that the female is now with child. Literal translation: Desires of the body. During this period of time, the lifemates feel a need to be near one another, especially when they rest. Also known, but only to bonded couples, as a time when mating is frequent and intense as this aspect is never mentioned in quarian company. To humans, the statement would had been 'You're acting like newlyweds.'

**Dram'zelt din relai:**Term of relationship within a clan. Literal translation: Adopted sister from another clan. Used to describe a non-clan female family member. Ancient Khelish meaning: Abducted lifemate-to-be for a clan brother. Used as a means to improve diversity in a clan. If after a year, no bond had been made, then they were allowed to return home.

**Erast:** The upper edge of an Ogwer. Literal translation: Protector's watch point. The top of the surrounding cliffs of the Ogwer, in ancient times small camps of guardsmen would protect and watch over the city proper. In more recent times, before the war, small towers were used for the police force as well as provide sightseers a view of the city below and the vast savannahs above. During the war, the towers were brimming with anti-ship and anti-geth weaponry.

**Faysakt:**Areas on quarian skin that appear to be thin, black-colored lines. They are found on the forehead, neck, arms, legs, and torso in various patters, but always exhibiting bilateral symmetry. These 'lines' are nothing more than sensitive skin tissue with a high concentration of specialized microscopic glands, similar to sebaceous glands in a human, that not only help collect pollen and microorganisms, but also encourages their introduction into what passes for a quarian immune system.

**Felz'elt:** Term used to describe the state of mind of a person who has just lost their lifemate. Literal translation: Sundered souls. A condition very close to the human emotion of grief when a loved one dies but at a depth that very few humans could experience. This state of being will be always present after their lifemate has joined the Ancestors but can vary in effect. The longer the lifemates were together, the lesser overall effect it has, as there are more memories to lessen the pain.

**Felz'tiyl:**Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the soul. Third of three: Signifies the period in which the two slowly realize that without the other they are incomplete. Once this phase is entered only one's death can prevent the bonding.

**Fre'eg:**Curse word. Literal translation: Clinging waste. In old earth english, a dingleberry.

**Gils'tyns:**Derogatory term used to refer to Psychologists. Literal translation: Memory or mind eater. Depends on originating ship of the speaker.

**Hagrr'hizs:**Term used to refer to the intellectually challenged. Literal translation: Forever Children. Mentally retarded or damaged people of the quarian race. Though infrequent, more of these special needs children have been born lately.

**Haums:** A quarian lounging chair, designed to provide not just a place to rest upon but to give shade from the sun's warmth. Usually designed for two, single ones were known but most preferred to not announce to all that could see that its owner had lost their lifemate.

**Hecs'tiyl:** Term of courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the heart. Second of three: Signifying the period where the needs of both begin to overrule the needs of self. Almost always leads to bonding though this phase is usually the longest of the three.

**Hrarxa:** Term used to describe anything that affects a clan negatively. Literal translation: Insult to my clan's honor. Insulting a clan's honor is considered an insult to every clan member. In ancient times it was enough to cause a war. In effect, had this been 3000 years ago, Tali had just issued a challenge for battle.

**Ialira:** A medium sized furred animal of Rannoch. Though mammalian, it lays eggs and guards them with its life until they're hatching. Considered a delicacy before the war.

**Iaysaz:**Small horned predatory lizard, native of Rannoch. If hungry they will eat their own young.

**Liz'elk:** Children's game. Literal translation: Balance and Timing. 3 sets of 1 meter poles attached to a central triangle. Each set comprised of 2 poles, separated by 6 centimeters. A 20 centimeter ball moved along the narrow track as the three players attempted to guide the ball to the center triangle. If the ball fell off, all lost, only by getting the ball to the center could the game be won. **Liz'elk uuls** refers to the game's hardware itself. The poles and ball.

**Inszel:** Term of status or standing within a social circle. Literal translation: Most trusted confidant and partner. Used to describe the personal relationship of an individual. Implies a deep personal connection. Humans would say girlfriend or boyfriend but these only touch the surface of what it truly means.

**Kaeli'steiz:**Name used in the ancient text of the Ancestors. Literal meaning: Warmth's Herald. The home star of the quarian race.

**Kazuat:** See Det Kazuat above. It's a shortened version of this. Can be used like the word 'shit' in American English, or 'shite' to our brothers and sisters across the pond.

**Kelek'miin:** Ancient beast of the night. Literal translation: Devourer of restless souls. An imaginary beast, mentioned in many children's tales about wandering where one should not be.

**Khelish Basic:** Or just Khelish. This is one of the three major dialects of quarians, and the primary one. All learn to speak it. The accent of the native speaker of Khelish Basic sounds like Seera'Vael, Han'Garrel, Zaal'Koris, or Daro'Xen.

**Khelish'Kuness:** This is one of the three dialects of quarians. The speakers of this dialect descend from the liveship _Rayya_ and/or the old quarian nation on Rannoch that launched her. The accent of a native speaker of Khelish'Kuness will sound similar to Tali'Zorah, Shala'Raan, Rael'Zorah, or Prazza.

**Khelish'Xurdan:** This is one of the three major dialects of quarians. The native speakers of this dialect will have an accent similar to Kal'Reegar, Lia'Vael, or Veetor'Nara.

**Nehya:** Term of endearment, similar to sweetheart. Literal translation: Interesting one. Used primarily at the beginning of a relationship to signify a desire to know the person on a more personal level, to get to know them better.

**Nis'telz:** Dice, specifically 3, 6-sided, 6 colored dice. Literal translation: Chances of Life. Used in many games, the dice are all numbered 1-6 but the colors of each face are different on each die. In order of lowest to highest, the colors are red, brown, green, yellow, purple and blue. The origin of the colors used is believed to have been drawn from the caste system of early quarian history. The colors moved from rank to trade as their civilization grew to adulthood.

**Oparqiit:** Term used to define relationships with other clans. Literal translation: Ignored ones. Its meaning is clear, no interaction, no speaking and more importantly, no assistance will be given to the clan under this naming. Any cooperation that was present before is now ceased, any work requested is ignored. Even calls for help will remain unheard until the offended Clan is appeased. A simple 'I am sorry' would not be sufficient as the honor of a clan was questioned.

**Ogwer:**Term used to describe a major river's opening onto the sea. Literal translation: High mouthed waterway. Imagine if the grand canyon on earth ended abruptly leaving the high cliffs on either side of the river and the sea before it. Unlike a fjord, where the river is wide and usually meets the cliff/mountain walls, an Ogwer has a large flood plain between the river and the cliffs.

**Onyeh:** Term used within a clan. Literal translation: Respected older sister. All members of a clan were either brother or sister, mother or father unless it was their own child. To ignore a question from one was an insult not to the person but to the clan as it showed a fault in the clan's ability to properly teach those younger.

**Pal'tec vis surden:** Medallion presented during the Ceremony of Bonding. Literal translation: Symbol of Souls United. Quarians followed a different path, where humans would place a ring upon their bride, a quarian male would present a medallion depicting the future life of the newly bonded pair. Worn on a chain around the neck before the war, they now are carried by every bonded female in a special pocket within their envirosuits, just above their heart. Usually made from precious metals, the quarians in the fleet now use scrap metals to conserve resources.

**Palla:** Term used to describe one's Lifemate. Literal translation: My soul's soul. Uncommon term used by clans from the southern continent of Sumeern. Though the clans have mixed with other ships, its use has remained only on the ships originally from the cities of Kilmest il biin and Toovaz il raan.

**Pemla'tiyl:** Term for courtship. Literal translation: Pathway to the mind, the first of the three phases that lead to bonding. The period of time where the couple learns of one another through a deep sharing of thoughts. May lead to bonding or just a very deep friendship.

**Raalz'Jel rium:** Term used to describe the 137 year cycle of torrential rains. Literal translation: Tears of the Vanquished ones. Ancient quarians believed the rains were attacks from all their fallen enemies trying to wash away the victors. Later, it was known that due to the orbital path of Rannoch, that ever 137 years, the planet was just a bit closer to the sun. When that happened, the shallow seas absorbed more heat and released it into the skies as water vapor all summer long. As winter came, the supersaturated higher air released its burden in torrential rains across the planet. The rivers, swelled with the massive inflow of water, rising well above their banks. Waters as high as 6 meters had been recorded but this was dependent on the valley. Omxa, with its 5 meter high bases, indicated waters never exceeded the 4 meter mark. In a valley 3 kilometers wide, that was still a lot of water.

**Ra'estah:** Quarian military term for an assistant or body guard assigned to officers. In the case of fully or partially bonded officers, this role is usually filled by one's _saera_ or _inszel_. Handles communication, driving, piloting, personal protection, and other duties. The Alliance military uses separate individuals to fill these diverse roles.

**Ra'kezan:**Literal translation, "A Long Wandering." It was what quarians first called the Pilgrimage when they first began the tradition. Many quarians were so distraught by the events of the morning war that they simply left and did not return, trying to get as far away from Rannoch and the geth as possible. Later, on occasions when youths failed to return from their Pilgrimages, presumably finding a better way of life away from the Migrant Fleet, they would be said to have been taken by _ra'kezan_ (Source: VenomRED)

**Realk:** Cloth covering used by the quarians. It is used to describe not just the hood seen on most but any material adornment.

**Saera:** Term used when speaking to one's lifemate. Literal translation: My soul's soul. Other meanings include, but are not limited to: Keeper of my soul and My soul's protector. Most commonly used word throughout the fleet by a quarian when speaking privately to their lifemate. Though unconfirmed by any quarian, there are implications that this word holds extreme intimacy as well as absolute trust. No single human word or phrase encompassed all that this one short word implies as it appears to contain both dominance and submissive traits.

**Selmaas:** Traditional female quarian garb. Consisting of long, colorful, light robes with a matching head covering. Though the head covering or scarf was very optional and usually worn only for formal occasions. After space travel became fairly common among the quarians, the selmaas were becoming less frequent as more utilitarian clothing was adopted. Tali's reference to the dress was due to Lana's scarf but more so due to respect to Shala's teaching and her very traditional views.

**Silz'asul felz:** Term of bonding. Literal translation: Eternal dance of souls. The completion of the bonding process. Souls linked forever in life and death as the lifemates continue on the walk of life as one.

**Tilgrap:** Large herbivore, native to Rannoch. Tilgrap, alpha female of the pack. Tilgra refers to the other members of the pack, both male and female. Moving in packs, the tilgrap uses snarling and huffing to force the pack to move where she decided to lead them.

**Ual:** A small, sweet, fruit that grows wild on bushes along rivers. Before the war, children were known to eat so many at once, during the growing season, that they would develop stomach aches. Native to Rannoch.

**Usl'sa yze tabb:** Term of insult. Literal translation: Slow children of an inbred family.

**Uuls:** Hardware, used only when describing something that is part of another such as say dice in a game of Yahtzee or a baseball and glove in a game of catch.

**Yaszil'jies, Yaszil'ahs:**The two primary arteries supplying blood to the legs. 'jies - inner and 'ahs - outer. The two arteries provide maximum oxygenated blood to the powerful thigh muscles for extreme but short lived bursts of speed. The femoral artery in humans.

**Yilaum do vis Gren:** A quarian holiday meant to renew the clan's feelings of family. Literal translation: Memories of the Clan. A time when clan members reunite with all the clans family's within the fleet as well as with their past, their ancestry. Stories are told, not just to the children, but to all as a reminder of what the clan truly stands for. Family.

_**Yilaum do vis raen tyst**_**:**Memories of the ancient ones. When a human has damage to the higher parts of the brain, but the autonomic portions are still active, he or she will go into a coma. When this happens to a quarian, her or she will turn feral. This is due to the more sophisticated basal portions of the quarian brain, which govern far more than the heart and digestion, occasionally manifesting all the way into nominally conscious behaviors such as the four 'F's, Fight, Flight, Reproduction, and Feeding. This a term for that feral behavior, usually used in connection with the brain damage. Can be permanent, just like a coma in humans.

**I will add more as the need arises.**


End file.
